Variable speed can feed



H. L. GUENTHER VARIABLE SPEED CAN FEED April 4, 1944.

Filed Jan. 5. 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 HENRY L .GUE/Vfi/EK.

INVENTOR.

April 4, 1944. GUENTHERv 2,345,870

' VARIABLE SPEED CAN FEED Fild Jan. 5. 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Y i. A'rfv.

Patented Apr. 4, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,345,370 VARIABLE SPEED CAN FEED Henry L. Guenther, Los Angeles, Calif. Application January 5, 1942, Serial o. {125,623

3 Claims. (o1. ee-2.2) f

This invention relates to can making and double seaming machinery, and particularly pertains to a variable speed can feed.

In the manufacture of cans, and particularly in connection with the capping of cans of the double seam type, it is necessary to bring the can body and the can cap together under a double seaming head, and to form a hermetically tight seam at this point. When filled cans are capped under conditions which require high speed operation thecontents of the can, if liquid, are liable to spill over the edges of the can, particularly if the can changes its direction of travel abruptly or 'is suddenly accelerated in speed. This last named condition often occurs since the .run of filled cans leading to the double seaming machine is relatively slow with the cans moving ahead side by side or in close proximity to each other,

and requiring that in order that the successive cans will'be received at the seaming stations they shall be separated .as they advance to reach a speed in synchronism to the speed of rotation of the usual rotary turret on a double seaming machine. In order to minimize these objectionable features of double seaming machines, applicant has provided a rotary turret carrying the cans tolfixed seaming stations representing the first and second seaming operations, or representing a single station at whichpoint both operations of rolling a double seam are performed. In this machine it has been found desirable to provide a can feed mechanism which moves cans along a lineal path of'travelto the seaming station. In view of the fact that the cans must be spaced apart suitably as they register with a seaming station, and the fact that they are spaced close together as they travel'from the filling station, it

speed of the individual cans whilethey move to the seaming station, whereby theywill be prop- -erly spaced and delivered to the seaming station in synchronism :with theseaming operation, with- .out danger of spilling the contents of the can.

The present invention contemplates the provision of a can seamingstation, a; can tar wheel, and an intermediate lineal feed vmechanism,

whereby. the, cans will ,be removed: from, thestar wheel and delivered tosthe seaming mechanism ment difierent from thatshown inFig. 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, Ill indicates a base including the usual driving mechanism of a double seaming machine. Uprights 11 and .12 are mounted upon the base and carry an overhead housing structure 13. Mount- ,ed withinthe base and the overhead structure is a doublesearning unit M which includes a turret l5 and double seaming headslfi. The double seaming heads are of any conventional design and are mounted upon the turret {5 which is carried 25.

enna r t s af e double sea heads are intendedto curl a double seam-between a can and a cap of thesanitary type. Mounted beneath the seaming heads in corresponding number are lower chucks l lupon which cans -l 8 may be positioned. Intermediate the seaming heads and the lower chucks is a spider l9 to receive the cans l8. 'Ihe details of driving the turret l5 and the chucks l1 and a turret 20 carrying the lower chucks I] are not apart of the present invention. The plesent invention is concerned with a can feed by which cansare delivered to a seaming station 2|. This station occurs between the spider'l fi and a'spider 22. The spider 22 ismounted upon a shaft 23 provided with semicircular can recesses 24 corresponding vwith semicircular can recesses 25 carried by the spider t9. 3;: reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that when a recess 24 is in alignment with a recess25 on a plane intersectingtheshafts l5 and 23 a can will .be embraced thereby to be rounded andfor a double seaming operation. .A can cap ;feed 26 is generallyindicated in Fig; llof the drawings. 'Ifhis feed delivers cansto the-turret ZIL-Whichcans are carried forwardly by lugs 21 on the turret to theseaming stationzl.

Theshaft 23 is driven through asu-itable driving mechanism by a gear 28secured at the lower end thereof. -Mounted onthe shaft 23. is a 7 gear 29.which is in mesh with afgear 30 on a jack shaft 3!. ,Theiack shaft 3! carriesa gear '32 in mesh with a gear 33. The gear 33 is mounted on a hub 34, the upper end of which carries a sprocket 35. Led around the sprocket 35 is a sprocket chain 36. This chain lies in a horizontal plane and is led around a cam 31. The cam 31 is spaced a distance from the shaft 23 in a horizontal plane and provides a path for the sprocket chain 36 which is not concentric with an axis. Pivotally mounted upon the pins of the sprocket 36 and in equal spaced intervals to each other are can feed fingers 38. These fingers are fixed to swing with cam levers 39 which carry rollers 48 at their free ends. The rollers 40 travel along a cam track 4] between the cam rails 42 and 43. As shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the cam rails along the outer side of the path of travel of the chain 36 are spaced parallel to each other. On the opposite side a cam rail 42 is arcuately disposed out of normal alignment of v the travel of the rollers 46. Extending longitudinally of the side rail 42"are rails 44 and 45 of a can runway 46.

This runway extends longitudinally at right angles to a plane intersecting the axes of shafts l5 and 23. The rail 45 is substantially tangent to the circumferential edge 4'! of a variable speed rotary star wheel 48. The

' rail 44 is parallel to the rail 45 and has an armate portion 49 concentric with the shaft 56 of the star wheel 48. The star wheel 48 includes an upper disc 5| carrying a' plurality of vertical pivots 52 upon which are mounted feed fingers I 53. The feed fingers are each fitted with an arm The roller 55 travels along a camway 56 defined by rails 51 and 58.

54 carrying a roller 55.

The exact contour of the camway 56 isindicated by solid and dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings and is designed to move the fingers 53 so that they will separate the cans and deliver them in proper order to the fingers 3B of the lineal can feed. A can runway 59 is provided including a pair of rails 68 and 6|. These rails and the runway deliver cans from a suitable filling station not shown in the drawings.

In the form of the invention shown in Fig. 3

of the drawings the accelerating star wheel 48 is eliminated and a star wheel 62 is mounted di- 'rectly upon a shaft 63 which occupies the bearing shown as receiving shaft 56 in Fig. 1. With this construction the star wheel 62 directly feeds the cans l8 to the feed chain 36 and the fingers 38.

- In operation of the present invention the shafts I 5 and 23 are driven in synchronism so that the arcuate pockets 24 and 25 will cometo register in a plane which intersects the shafts '15 and 23. The chain 36 is driven at a predetermined speed through the gear 28, the shaft 23, the gears 29 and 30, the jack shaft 3| and. the gears 32 and 33. The chain 36 will therefore be driven at a constant rate of speed. Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, it will be understood that thechain travels in the direction of the arrow a, and that the variable speed star wheel 48 travelsin the direction of the arrow 1). The variable speed star wheel will encounter the flow of cans passing along the can runway 59 and will cause the feed fingers 53 to enterbetween the cans. The fingers 53 of the accelerating star wheel 58 are moved to positions with their outer ends. relatively close to each other along the opposite side of the star wheel from the path of travel of the cans around the disc 5| and along the rail 44.

Due to the configuration of the cam groove 56,

the fingers 53 will tend to spread apart so that 3 they will span the space. occupied by an incoming can, asindicated at c in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

Thereafter the cans will be moved along the arcuate length of the rail 44 to a point where the fingers 53 of the star wheel and the fingers 38 of the chain 36 will lie in substantially the same plane as indicated at 01-. At this particular point the finger on the chain is moving faster than the finger on the star wheel. This causes the fingers 38 on the chain to accelerate the speed of the can while the finger 53 on the star wheel lags behind to permit the finger 38 to pick up the can and carry it forwardly. The shape' of the chain cam 31 is such as to cause the finger 38 at point 0'. to move laterally and forwardly of the path of travel of the cans so that it will be inserted between tWo cans and will then accelerate to overtake a can delivered by a finger 53 of the star wheel. As the finger 38 engages the can at point it the roller 48 on the lever 39 of this particular finger will pass along the cam track 42, thus tending to cause the tip of the finger 33 to move at a relatively slower rate of speed than the constant speed of the chain 36. As the chain advances in the direction of the arrow a the rollers 48 will move outwardly toward the chain, and this will swing the fingers 38 forwardly with the can and in the direction of the arrow 6. This gradual movement will accelerate the speed of the cans [8 along and between the rails 44 and 45 to the seaming station J. Here a cap will be delivered to the can and the spiders l5 and 22 will act to hold the can in round so that the double seaming operation may be performed most efficiently. The double seaming spider 15 travels in the direction of the arrow 9 and the spider 22 travels in the direction of the arrow 71..

It will thus be seen that by the mechanism here disclosed it is possible to feed open filled cans into a can double seaming machine from a relatively slow'fiowing run of cans toa high speed doubleseaming machine in a manner to gradually accelerate the speed of the cans without disturbing their contents sufficiently to cause them to spill.

While I have shown the preferred form of my invention as now knownto me, it will be understood that various changes may be made in combination, construction and arrangement of'parts by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of my invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An accelerating can feed, comprising a table over which cans may travel in an upright position from. a flow of cans to a can receiving station, a sprocket disposed adjacent to said can receiving station and lying in a horizontal plane, a chain cam disposed in said horizontal plane adjacent to the flow of cans, a feed chain led around said sprocket and said cam whereby a run of the chain will be in a lineal path of travel, thereafter passing along a path of travel concentric with the axis of the sprocket at one end and along a non-circular path around the cam at its opposite end, can'engaging fingers pivotally mounted upon the chain and carried therewith and being disposed in a horizontal plane, camlevers connected with said fingers, each carryinga cam roller, and

I fingers will move at accelerated rates of speed from the cam to-the sprocket.

2. The structure of claim 1 including a star wheel interposed between the flow of cans and the path along which they are carried by thecan engaging fingers and whereby the cans will be fed to the fingers in synchronism.

3. The structure of claim 1 including a star wheel interposed between the flow of cans and the path along which they are carried by the can engaging fingers and whereby the cans will be fed to the fingers in synchronism, said star wheel including a rotary body member, a plurality of separately swinging feed fingers mounted circumferentialy thereof, levers, one fixed to each of said 10 fingers, a roller carried by each of said levers and a cam track along which the rollers travel and whereby the free ends of the feed fingers will be caused to move as they advance and at differential speeds from the constant speed of rotation of the star wheel, whereby the cans will be separated and an accelerated speed of travel will be imparted to them as they are delivered to the can engaging fingers.

HENRY L. GUEN'IHER. 

